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Showing results for tags 'hugh hefner as civil rights activist and cultural groover'.
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I searched for this book here, and just found an announcement for it, and then some knee jerk sexism put-downs by the usual suspects... While there is a lot of material on the Bunnies (PF was a former model and Bunny) which I just skipped over, there''s some interesting jazz content, and a portrait of the 'Hef' as one of the few civil rights activists in the entertainment biz in the 50s. People such as Dick Gregory, Freda Payne, Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Maurice and Gregory Hines and Ramsey Lewis were given their first steady, decent paying gigs and exposure to a larger white audience at Playboy Clubs, resulting in all of them becoming nationally recognized in their fields. Gregory, Payne, Hines and Lewis were interviewed in the book, and gave Hef's courage in hiring and defending them from racism, credit for their success as artists. Great jazz artists such as Monty Alexander, Gene Bertoncini, Earl May, Al Foster, Al Belletto, Larry Willis and Al Gafa were given steady gigs that lasted for years, playing uncompromising jazz. Willis would get pianists like Chick Corea, Albert Dailey, Herbie Hancock and Roland Hanna as subs if he had another gig. Jim Hall and Ron Carter recorded the groundbreaking duo album Alone Together at the NYC Playboy Club, and Bill Evans had a week's engagement there. In the South, they established a New Orleans Club in 1961, where Al Belletto led an integrated house band with musicians like Richie Payne, and Ellis Marsalis had his own trio that played there for many years. HH had two TV shows, one in 1959, where he featured Dick Gregory, and another one in 1969.where he featured Dick Gregory. The '59 show featured jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, June Christy, Dakota Staton, Beverley Kenney, Carmen McRae, Joe Williams and Billy Eckstine. Jazz groups included Woody Herman, Cal Tjader, Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Rich. Pianists featured were Earl Hines, Count Basie, Ahmad Jamal Eddie Higgins and Dave Brubeck. Crooners such as Tony Bennett, David Allen and Frank D`Rone plus pianist/vocalists Buddy Greco and Nina Simone were also featured. You can find some of these shows on YouTube, and Frank D'Rone's 'Joey,Joey,Joey' knocked me out, accompanying himself on guitar back in 1959!